all night long

He did it! Bright slept in the crib from 8:30 until 3:45 this morning! Apparently that much time counts as having slept through the night. He was ready to go when he woke up though so I took him out to the living room and played with him until almost 5 am when he was finally tired again.

it's okay, really

I have decided that being an At Home Mom is not as hard of a transition as I thought it was going to be- there is a pretty standard daily routine: wake up, play, eat, dress, play, eat sleep, etc. That allows me to have frequent breaks so I don't feel burned out. Andy walks home for lunch- another break, extra set of hands, and nice to see him often, plus he works so close by that I don't feel like I am stranded all alone. The apartment is really nice and in a lovely location. Last night there were fireworks right next door at the college- Bright slept through them on Andy's shoulder. It's a nice community that feels like you are at a vacation home. We went outside last night around 8:30 to see the lake and the moon was full and a beautiful yellow orange color. The reflection seemed to dance on the tiny waves on the lake. You could hear the crickets and there were lightning bugs flitting about- really a great night. Life is pretty good.

sleep

Guess which baby slept 4.5 hours in the crib last night?
This one!

sweets for the sweet

Is it possible that the chocolate cream filling in a Dunkin' Donut Chocolate Creme is really just Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker frosting whipped up? If so, I think I ate half a can's worth yesterday. Ugh!


So today I would have been starting back to work if we still lived in Oregon. Instead, Andy is teaching his first college class! Hurray!

I miss the excitement of back-to-school time- new clothes, new kids, always trying to find a way to make the caseload more manageable.

Out here my days are filled with activity in 2 to 3 hour increments. For example, Bright wakes up at 6:45, eats, plays until 8:30ish, then needs a nap. This cycle continues pretty much all day. Taking him out to town can be a challenge when you have to drive alone with him in the car. Some trips go very well, others are nightmares. Sometimes I can get things done while he is sleeping, other times we just nap together. There is no Birth to 3 program out here and the tiny program that they do offer leaves a lot to be desired. Even the library is lacking in the area of great children's books. Those of you in bigger cities should be thankful for all of the resources out there.

Well, Bright is waking up. On to round 2 in the marathon of my day! His sleepy smile is so worth it though.

Music soothes.

Here are some recent pictures . We love this sweet hat that Bright got as a hand-me-down from Shay. He outgrew his other one a while ago. Thanks Shay!

I have found that Bright really, really enjoys listening to music- any kind of music. We have been listening to some Cuban music from iTunes Radio every morning and he gets a real kick out of it. His expression changes as soon as you put it on. This is another good activity to put into my At-Home-Mom "survival kit". My sister-in-law Pamela recently sent me a CD set from the music class she took my niece to when she was younger-Music Together. Thanks a bunch Pam!! We just got done listening to the Fiddle Song Collection. There is one song called No More Pie that I remember Shay singing at the dinner table at their house. Very cute! In my memory though it was called Oh my, I want Some Pie. Andy says that's just because I am sweet obsessed... This is so true, sadly enough. Every day we pass a place called Seneca Farms when we go into town. It is just a small ice cream and fried chicken place. Nothing special to look at, but they have really good ice cream, like 30 flavors at least. Any fruit that is in season they will make into ice cream- blackberries, peaches, strawberries, pumpkin... Ugh.... I need to think about something else or make a trip out there.

Bright tried some pureed carrot today. Not a big hit. Last night he slept 2.5 hours in the crib. I must have fallen asleep at some point during that and forgotten that we had actually gotten him in there. I woke up and thought I had lost him. But there he was- in the crib. For most naps now we can get him in there- never without a struggle but he will sleep in there for a little bit. This is progress.

soft as silk

In my opinion there is nothing softer than a chubby baby's hand. It feels like it could just melt in your grasp...

Yesterday baby learned a new skill- rolling from place to place on the floor. I put him down on the playmat, then went into the kitchen for some water and when I came back he was down by the couch. He demonstrated this new skill over and over for the rest of the night.

Bright's teething pain seems to have lessened, or at least he is getting used to the new sensation of them in his mouth. He has stopped being so terribly fussy and is now just mildly fussy. I'll settle for that, I guess. It's fun to see his two little chompers in his mouth when he smiles. Should have gotten more pictures of his toothless grin before this happened.

It seems as though Bright has started communicating through hollering, for the most part- not in an upset or angry way, just loud. Sometimes this is fun, no so much at 8:00am, or after 9:oopm. Right now Bright is in the crib (not sleeping, by the way) grunting away- either a tired grunt or his "gonna poop" grunt.

This morning we went out to the lake to say god morning to the ducks. Bright really liked seeing the leaves moving in the breeze. He enjoys any trips outside. Last night we took him on a walk around the campus where Andy is working and he feel asleep in the stroller sitting up. It was nice to have a bit of mom and dad time after that without having to entertain baby. We need more of that.

Still going...

Here is a picture of Kyle, Pam, Shay, Andy, Bright and myself right before we moved back to NY.


It's been almost a week of doing it on our own. Things are going pretty well, except for one trip to the doctor about a lump on baby's chest- possibly an insect bite or an infection. Baby is asleep right now next to me on the bed. We are still co-sleeping, a point of great debate within our household. I would like more sleep, daddy likes baby in our bed, baby won't sleep in crib anyways... So during the day I am putting him in the crib for play time and chore times, we'll see if he gets more used to it.

Next week would have been my back to work start date. Strange to not be thinking about schedules and students this year. Everyone keeps offering me suggestions of where I could work and how to get a job here, even though I thought I was clear when I said I was going to be an At Home Mom... I can't imagine anyone being able to soothe him like I have been able to do now that his teeth have come in. That was pretty draining and frustrating for both of us, hopefully the worst is behind us, until the next ones come in.

Baby has been eating the occasional bit of rice cereal lately. This is fun and messy. Definitely does not help him sleep better at night though. Daddy loves being able to participate in this process so that is part of their quality time. Plus, he does not mind getting messy- seems to like it as much as the baby.

We start infant-parent swim time next week. Scary to think of dragging out a bathing suit for public display. I still have 10 pounds of baby weight to get rid of, even after almost 6 months. I am really excited about swim time though. The pool is right near our house, we'll probably wak there. Since we live right on the lake, the sooner we can teach him about water and being safe- the better off we'll be.

Survived!

We did it! Made it through the first day of full time At Home Mom. Bright was super fussy yesterday- he had first two teeth break through his gums during the night and while he didn't seem to mind it then, the follow day was rough. A little tylenol really didn't seem to make any difference either. We had a nice routine of play, read, eat, nap, do it all again going on for most of the day. When Bright is really fussy I took him out to the lake and he watched the waves and that really calmed him down. This morning is starting off just as rough as yesterday- up at 5:00 with very poor sleeping last night. Napped by 8:00 but fussy again when he woke up at 9:00. Right now he is in the Exersaucer and is only mildly annoyed! We are supposed to go have lunch with Kristy later on. Hopefully his mood will improve or else the car ride will be rough.....

First Day of Stay-At-Home

Today if the first day of full time stay at home mom status since Bright was born in March. Up until now both of us were home with him all day most of the time. Occasionally one of us needed to go out to a meeting, but those never lasted very long. From here on out Bright and I will be a team, getting to know each other on a full time, all day long basis. I think we are off to a great start- he slept for five hours straight last night and then the rest of the night if he squirmed around I was able to get him back to deep sleep without any trouble at all. There are definitely some major benefits of sharing a bed as a family. No need to get up and walk down the hall to feed your baby- he's right there. Neither one of us needs to be fully awake to accomplish the job! There are some drawbacks to it also, don't get me wrong. I would say that the biggest drawback is having to listen to others comment on how the baby will never learn to sleep in a crib on his own if we don't just put him in there and let him cry it out. I cannot even imagine being able to harden your heart enough to do that. And I cannot imagine what our baby would think if we loved him up all day long, and then arbitrarily decided that we would no longer help him out once 8:00pm rolls around. Wish us luck and we'll report our successes tomorrow.